Friday, February 27, 2009

IBRAHIM ALI BEING ASKED TO RESIGN

A small group of PAS protestors held a peaceful protest against YB Ibrahim Ali the MP for Pasir Mas. They had helped Ibrahim win the seat against UMNO in the last GE and now they want him to to back off if he were to do the froggie again. The protest was held immediately after the Friday prayers within the Mekasar Mosque compound. After a short speech by the Ketua Pemuda Pas Pasir Mas and some takbir of Allah hu Akbar, they left for home without any incidence.

The crowd could have been bigger if more people knew about the intended protest bust since not many knew, they did not stay back to make up a bigger crowd. Somehow the police knew about it and make their presence felt with two patrol cars an an unknown number of plain clothes personnel.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Nasi Lemak Kopi O

Abdul Rahman Alabaladi sedang membuat persembahan di sudut penjual ubat Pasir Mas.

Date : Saturday 28th February 2009
Time : 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Place: Sekolah Kebangsaan Tanjong Chenok Pasir Mas Kelantan

The above programme will be telecasted live by TV9 and as usual it will be anchored by En. Aziz Desa. I think it will be him this time too. You dont have to be there to see it, just tune to TV9.


What is going to be on it this time? Remember the Seniman Kurang Upaya that I mentioned in my blog post I Feel Good? He will be one of the guests on that day's programme. So if you have not seen him perform before, just stay home and watch him chat and perform live on TV9.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

A DAY WITH A POLITICAL BLOGGER

Was it a day? No, not even a day but more of just half a day with this prominent political blogger from Kuantan, Pahang by the blogname of Sakmongkol AK47. Check out his blogsite as I won't be telling more about him here. Suffice to say that I always refer to him as Dato' Sak.
The other blogger from Pasir Mas by the name of Mat Cendana of the recently renamed Mat Cendana's BLOG REVIEW did mention in passing about this meeting at his site. He has yet to write much about it though he took lots of notes during the chat we had at The White House Kopitiam in Kota Bharu. So watch out for Mat Cendana's post on this as I think it will be quite explosive. My site is not a SoPo blog so nothing much about politics will appear here though a few times I did a mild outburst to indicate my displeasure over certain matters.
I don't really know for sure what mission Dato' Sak came to town this time. From earlier previous interactions he had been contemplating coming to KB for quite sometimes. He has his roots here and probably he wants to trace that root. For that I promise to help him if only he will give me some clues later. You know I have a knack of tracing people if they are in Kelantan but failed miserably if they were somewhere else around the globe. Hey I am no Bala PI.
Earlier plan was for him to come with Datin Mamasita of the blog mamasita mamamia! and I have invited them to stay in my mosquito infested humble abode in Pasir Mas but the plan didn't seem to materialise due to Datin's need to look after their schooling children. So it was just Dato' Sak and his friend Zul this time around.
Dato' Sak and Zul wasn't familiar with the hotels in Kota Bharu as his last call to KB was a couple of long years ago. He asked me for recconmendation of suitable family hotels in town and straight to my mind I recconmended Ridel Hotel, Riverview Hotel and Royal Guesthouse and I did mention the Ranaissance Hotel as one of the top hotels in town. Unfortunately Ridel's wifi fascilities was out of order and being a blogger, a wifi fascility is a MUST! So off he went to the next posh looking hotel Riverview which was just across the new block of yet to be opened Pelangi Mall along the same road as Ridel Hotel. It seemed that this hotel has been upgraded to a more expensive hotel beyond the price that I used to know. So the next choice is the Royal Guesthouse which was sitting next to the Muhammadi Mosque. This guest house is unque in that it is the only two storey budget hotel with a lift. It was a walkup before when it was known as The Safra Inn but after a complete massive renovation and refurbishment, it was turned into a beautiful gusthouse befitting the royal title. With good wifi, blogger Dato' Sak was blissfully happy there.


The Royal Guesthouse is located near to many places of interest in Kota Bharu.

Due to personal reason I didn't get to meet Datok' Sak on his arrival or for dinner that night. I just wanted him to rest and explore the small town with Zul. I know for sure he will be quite safe there as Dato' Sak is a Tomoi fan and his friend Zul can intimidate any would be mugger around. I promised to meet him for breakfast the next day.
I had to go to Kampong Kenjung to fetch Mat Cendana as waiting for him to meet me in Pasir Mas will mean a loss of time due to the uncertainty of the public transport available. Afterall all the distance was not that far and almost on the dot we were at Royal Guesthouse at 8.40 AM as promised.
There at the lobby, for the first time I met Dato' Sak in person.
Breakfast is where else but at the White House kopitiam just behind the Royal Guesthouse. We just walked there. The place was full and not a single vacant table was available. I saw a table with just a couple sitting there and I know the guy as En. Sayuti Mokhtar of RTM Angkasapuri but his name completely left me and I was ashamed of myself for not being able to introduce him to Dato' Sak. Nevertheless we had to sit somewhere to have breakfast. I asked En Sayuti to allow us to join his table with his wife and later his son came to join him.


We had to join En Sayutti Mokhtar's (blue T) table due to lack of place. Dato' is on the far right with MC partially hidden. (I couldn't get his permission to post his picture when he didn't answer my call this morning) Zul is in the striped read shirt with En. Sayutti's son beside him and En. Sayutti's spouse partially hidden.

We didn't talk much during breakfast as the place was not conducive to even small chats.
After breakfast I took the group for a short tour of Kota Bharu with emphasis on Pasar Buluh Kubu, Pasar Khadijah where Datin will be certainly be interested to know when she joins him on the future trips.
Of particular interest to Dato' Sak was the location of Yati Ayam Percik. He failed to locate it the previous night and had to do with nasi lemak at the riverfront near Ridel Hotel.
Then we moved on to Jalan Pantai Cahaya Bulan and I took a detour to Kuala Besar and showed Dato' the Pulau Suri Homestay at the estuary of the Kelantan River before going to Pantai Cahaya Bulan. Pantai Cahaya Bulan was renamed from the more famous Pantai Cinta Berahi when the present state government took over. Since the initials PCB is retained, the name of the beach was not lost in lustre even though the beach itself took a bad beating from big waves. PCB is no more the beach of old where the likes of U Lee of A Moonlight Rendezvous fame used to remininsce about in his blog.
PCB should be visited in the evening as the setting sun will bring about a an ambience extremely fine for dining in the open air. The place is famous for its 'colek' made up of mostly fried sea food and some stalls do offer freshly cooked dishes. I impressed upon Dato' to bring Datin here.
On the return trip to Kota Bharu we stopped at Che Minah Songket. Fortunately the owner of the establishment was around to show Dato' the looms and show how songket is weaved the traditional way.
We later came to know that the owner is a close associate of Dato' Ibrahim Ali from his student days at ITM. Later he showed his most expensive piece of songket which he sells at a whopping RM5,500.00 and Dato' commented a similar piece was sold to a minister at double the price! Some business people are lucky.

Dato' Sak was shown around the weaving demonstration area.

One for the album with the owner of Cik Minah Songket. Picture taken by Mat Cendana. Yours truly is of course in the dark T. MC was a smart photographer as he had left out my old shoes out of the frame.
We then headed back to the White house. The place was almost empty and over cold drinks we chatted to our heart's content without a care about peering ears.
Next we headed to Restoran Cikgu at Kampong Kraftangan almost opposite to the Royal Guesthouse. It was so convenient. Mat Cendana asked to be excused because he had something urgent to finish up with his publishers online. Though it was just 12.30PM, the place began to fill up. We were lucky to be early as we had a choice of table near the counter where Cikgu Hamid himself was manning it.
It was nasi ulam all the way. It was the simplest of food as all we had was assorted fresh and boiled 'ulam' with some grilled fish and Datok had a few fried fish. Nothing pretentious. Since Dato' did't take 'budu' (fish sauce), he had his sambal which he considered to be very delicious. Datin must come and learn how to do this sambal from Cikgu Hamid. With that sambal alone Datin can hold Dato' Sak to ransom for the rest of his life. Zul and me digged on the 'ulam', with grilled unsalted fish in the 'budu' with a dash of 'tempoyak' (fermented durian) with chili padi. Cikgu Hamid's son who came to tally the price was surprised that we didn't take much 'lauk'.
Who says you need to have expensive food to enjoy a meal?
Later Cikgu Hamid joined our table and he left for awhile to bring his signature dish of ikan patin masak asam pedas for promotion to our table. He claimed the fish were kept alive fresh in the containers near the kitchen. We sampled it and I bet all of us were turned on by the dish. Unfortunately we had our fill, otherwise we may have to go for another round.
Before Cikgu Hamid left our table, he left his business card. This is his business card.

Very practical business card. Should you have an entertaiment account, just fill in the details and you can recoup some of your investment from your company. Otherwise the cash bill can serve the same purpose as a business card with more information to boot.
The next time Dato' Sak comes visiting, I hope mamasita will be with him as by now she will realised how much she had missed. I know this is just the recconaisance trip and another trip will be due soon.
We parted ways not long after lunch and I left them at the Royal Guesthouse in Kota Bharu with a very high impression of this political blogger. Above all he is a very humble person extremely easy to get along with. Being very close to those in the higher hierachy of the local political scenes, Dato' Sak left me in awe as a person who can seperate the rice from its chaff. Can we have more of such politicians?

Monday, February 16, 2009

I Feel Good

It is not really difficult to make this 58 years old retired government servant to feel good. A relatively good health (being mobile albeit with hypertension controllable by contant medication and recurring gout relievable by mild painkillers) and a bit of the followings:

- Meeting family members living outside of Kelantan
- Meeting new friends whom I have befriended on the net
- Getting articles published in Magazines and getting paid for the effort
- Helping friends
- Being given casual promise of my first million dollar
Let us start with first. It has been sometimes that I visited my sister at her home in Gombak. With all her children living out of Kelantan, her base will now be over there so that it will be easier for her to be visited by her children and grandchildren around KL and the other being in Malacca. Then together we visited a nephew who was leaving for Melbourne Australia since his spouse was doing her PhD there. There, most of the clans were gathered. So it was something to make up for since I didn't manage to attend my nephew's small kenduri (feast) which was held at his father's home in Tanah Merah since I was holed up in Sabah back then.
The second one was supposed to be just a coincidence. I have become online friends of people involved in Muay Thai event after attending one of their events in Kota Bharu in November 2008. My posting on the event can be read here. Further interactions on one of their blogsite Tomoi enhanced my friendship with several of them even more especially Mussadik who is the most active and play many roles in promoting the event with Tuan Zahari and his strong man Sanusi.
So when I took the train ride on the 6th February from Pasir Mas to KL Sentral, it was not just to see the KL Muay Thai Championship fight but to meet those people behind the event.
Next on the list was to meet Ee Lynn of Combat Loaded & Mission Ready! who goes by the nick of Covert Operations '78. She had expresssed intention of meeting me at the event and she will bring 7 other friends to watch it. You can read Ee Lynn's hilarious take on the event here.With that kind of write up, I will be out of business as a Muay Thai reporter of which Boxxtomoi Magazine has offered me to do. Lucky thing Ee Lynn doesn't cover Kelantan, the state I am covering.
With that I am now a regular contributor to 2 new Magazines. The first and earlier one is Qiadah, the Official Corporate Magazine of Kelantan Chief Minister Incorporated which has published it's second issue and the other one is of course the earlier mentioned Boxxtomoi Magazine which was first distributed at the KL Muay Thai Championship.
While I was in KL, the Publisher of Qiadah called me to inform that the second issue was out and I was to collect my payment for the three articles from me that they have published. With that knowledge, I splurged on some accessories for my camera by buying two Hoya Filters and a Raynox Super Macro Conversion Lens by charging the expense to my already bloated credit card which I promised my wife that I will not use unless in times of dire straits!
Today I am expecting a prominent couple from Kuantan who had been my blogger friends for sometimes. They have been planning to come to Kota Bharu for sometimes and this is going to be the closest to confirmation that they could give to be here. Can't blame them for the uncertainty since to people like him something real urgent may crop up at the very last minute. Barring this uncerctainty, InsyaAllah they will be here.
Helping friends however new to me always make me feel good. All the more so if the way to help doesn't involve finance beyond my mean since I am not financially sound myself and have very little to spare. Helping out Mat Cendana of Recovery From Drug Addiction gave me immense feel good as helping him away from his old ways will be a service to fellow friend in need of help of the highest order. Someone with that talent will be wasted if he were to revert to his old bad ways just because we dont want to accept him into our circle of friends. The only other circle that he will definitely be accepted will be his old circle of friends which he very much wanted to avoid. Through Mat Cendana I have found new great friends whom I have yet to meet by the name of Sherry Nor of the blog by the same name. I have met his other friend Davis R, who resides in Korea and is contemplating making Malaysia his second home since he felt that his own country the United States of America will be going down to the dog faster than our own beloved Malaysia.
Latest on my list of helping a friend is a seniman OKU (Orang Kurang Upaya or the handicapped artist) whom I have mentioned in passing in my post in my other blogsite My Pasir Mas The Land of The Golden Sand under the heading Sudut Penjual Ubat Tradisional. Anyway I have yet to make a special post about this man who is a living legend as a Seniman Orang Kurang Upaya.
From my subsequent visits to his home, he had expressed the desire to have a website to popularise his trade and sell the products that he provides. I did find him a webmaster and enlisted the help of my neice Nadya Fatimi who works for Kosmo and had Ab. Rahman Alabaladi featured in Kosmo Ekstra of Kosmo Ahad 15th February 2009 with the full page title of Albaladi Memukau. With that two promises delivered, how not to feel good about it? There is another promise which I have yet to fullfill though, to have him appear on National TV. InsyaAllah, I will find a way for him to get on it. It is a way of helping him get the right expossure to eke a living without depending on others.
The last item is of course a dream. Who would give me a million? (in USD perhaps).
Remember this classmate of mine by the name of Dato' Dr. Hj. Mahmud Awang Kechik whom I mentioned in my blogs The Last of The Great Doctors of Kota Bharu and later in Gathering 2008 Class Class of '68, D-Day ? Well by courtesy of George Bush before he descended from the throne of being the President of USA, frozen some 10 millions of his cash (could be in USD) in the United State's Bank. I joked with him at my latest meeting that with the appointment of Barrack Obama as the new President of USA, he may get them back. He shot back "I will give one to you". Wow! At least I can dream of becoming a millionaire one day. At least that will make me feel good for the rest of my life!
Just to digress, I will post some pictures of my recent trip to Kl, just my turn to make you feel good. If it is going to be any good to you hehehehe.

When I reached the venue at Stadium Badminton Cheras I saw this vertical banner on the wall.

The early birds who came to buy the tickets.

No less than Tuan Zahari (black shirt) and his partner Sanusi (sitting) was there to explain things to prospective spectators.

The Championship belt being dispalyed with Adexx (with tudung) looking on.

Close up of Championship belt
Rudy of Telekom Malaysia with Tuan Zahari of BoxxEvents.

Tuan Zahari checking to the last details including to the songs on the sound system.

Mindy Equipments and all new. Boxers in Kelantan will drool over such equipments.

The crews working hard to get the venue ready. These are the people who worked hard to make things happen. Above all they were volunteers.

At last the venue was ready

The rehearsel was replete with flares

Lasers and sound. Of course you can't see the sound. When a Thai boxer came in, he was accompanied by a Thai number and a European with an English number. M. Nasir's Semerah Padi was the favourite for the Malaysian boxers.
Then the crowd came

The hall started to fill up.
The fight began.

My son in law Lokman, sons Azuan and Azrin were in the crowd. They wanted to be recorded as having attended the historic event.

Farek(in red) the boss of Kelab M-150 of Kota Bharu with Rudy of TM (in batek).

Ee Lynn (in black T) and her friends. Later they took off to the gallery because their view was blocked by some photographers (me included).

Shooters in action with all the fighters posing for use in future posters and Magazine.

A boxer being prepared

They were raring to go.

Alex Lim having a cut compressed. Later Alex was found to have broken a shoulder bone. Neverthe less he continued to fight till the last bell and lose on points. What courage!

Boxers from M-150 Kota Bharu. Che Pol with Arab shawl on his head. Did the lady fight too?

Aik Salsaloon of Pasir Puteh Kelantan was Che Pol's opponent.

The two fighters from Kelantan going at each other.
Che Pol's face was bloodied.

The bleeding continued even after he had won the fight on points. Glory can dull the senses.

Nadya in action from beside the ring.

A camera taking shots from above. The DVD's are well produced. I will be looking forward to buying the DVD at the Kota Bharu Event at end of March 2009.

The crowd leaving after the event was over.

Me and my children adjourned for coffee where else but the Old Town White Coffee Cheras.
Mussadik of Boxxtomoi with Azizancm the senior shooter.

Barbod of Iran with some friends. I know Barbod from the last fight where he knocked out my grandnephew Alif in the second round.

If you have the choice where would you choose?
I felt good at the KL Hilton.
The bed was too big for small Irsyad or even for the three of them with sisters Syakirah and Ayen.


Yani enjoying the luxurious bed of KL Hilton.

Even the restroom with all the luxuries and look at the bath tub below.

Yet we had breakfast at the foodcourt at KL Sentral where food were cheaper hehehehe.

My grand daughter Ayen loved it when I cuddled her.

The family get together at my nephew's place. They will be leaving for Melbourne where his spouse will be doing her studies.
Nephew Zailani with his spouse and nephew in law Hamdan.
I feel good!